In the ongoing IPL 2025, Rajat Patidar is one of RCB's middle-order batting mainstays. Featuring in 11 matches, the right-hander has scored 239 runs. Rajat also revealed how his captaincy appointment put him under pressure, but stalwart Virat Kohli's words helped him calm down
Rajat Patidar (Pic: File Pic)
Rajat Patidar, who is leading Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL 2025, recollected the instance from 2022 of how the franchise ignored him despite assurances. Later, he was roped in by RCB as an injury replacement.
"I had got a message (ahead of the mega auction for IPL 2022) that you be ready... that we will pick you. I had a little hope that I will get another chance (to play for RCB). But I wasn't picked in the mega auction. I was a little sad," said Patidar on an RCB Podcast.
"I (had) started playing in my local matches in Indore (after not getting picked in the auction). Then, I got a call that 'we are picking you as a replacement for Luvnith Sisodia', who was inured. To tell you frankly, I didn't want to come as a replacement because I knew that I won't get a chance to play there, and I always feel that I don't want to sit there (in dugout)," added the 31-year-old Madhya Pradesh-born.
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Rajat also revealed how his captaincy appointment put him under pressure, but stalwart Virat Kohli's words helped him calm down. He also feels the day when he received the captaincy plaque from Kohli is one of his memorable days with RCB.
"I have seen him (Kohli) since I started watching TV, in the IPL, off the field, in the Indian team... To take that thing (captaincy plaque) that he has been doing for so many years... and he is giving it to me with his own hands.
"When he was giving it to me, I was a bit worried about how to take it. I was completely blank about what to do. He told me to hold it. I held it. After that, I was looking at him like, what should I do?
"Then he said a couple of words like, 'you deserve it, you earned it'. So I felt a little bit okay. I mean when he said this to me then I became normal in that situation. I learn from him as much as possible. So I think that was a special moment... the way he introduced me to so many fans."
In the ongoing IPL 2025, Rajat Patidar is one of RCB's middle-order batting mainstays. Featuring in 11 matches, the right-hander has scored 239 runs.
(With PTI Inputs)
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